Death Came Home
by Agent R
Summary: As summer ends and Richie and his friends return to college, their already bumpy life is interrupted when Cassandra comes looking for Methos while he's supposed to be abroad, only for him to return home the same night.
1. Default Chapter

Death Came Home

"I don't believe this, first week back in the school year and they're giving me five reports to write before Monday, can you believe it, Richie?"

"No, but then again, I can't believe that I got stuck in CIS, some stupid computer course, they keep yakking on about Power Point, and diagramming and all that crap, do I look like the kind of person who'll use it?" Richie asked.

"No but you also don't look like the kind of guy who uses condoms, looks can be deceiving," Amber replied.

"Are you okay?"

"Richie, that's the tenth time you've asked me since school started, is something wrong? Do I have a noticeable stain in the crotch of my pants, Richie? Huh? Do I have an ashtray floating beside me? Huh? Is my head spinning? Why do you keep asking me that?"

"No reason, just that we had a pretty hard summer and now you seem like you're bombed all the time."

"Maybe I had too much to drink last Saturday, remember those drinks Methos made? Raw eggs, orange juice and whisky, bloody awful, remember that night?"

"Yeah, I've seen vomit before, but that was a very interesting color," Richie said.

"Speaking of color," Amber said as she looked up, "we better pick up the pace, the sun's gonna be setting soon and if we aren't home by the time Duncan is, we'll get a lecture that'll last until the cows come home."

The front door was thrown open as Richie and Amber came in, "Hey Mac!" Richie called as he came in.

Joe leaned back in his chair from the kitchen and stared over the counter, "Hey Richie."

"Cow came home," Amber mumbled to Richie.

"Hey Joe, long time no see," Richie said.

"Well I figured now that summer's over..."

"Don't remind me," Amber groaned.

"It would be safe to come up, you know, no wild teenagers drag racing, blowing things up, streaking and all that...so how's the college man?"

"Exhausted and in need of a drink," Richie said as he slammed his books down on the table, "can I get you anything?"

"No thanks, I'm fine," Joe said, "so, any word from that fruity-ass Methos?"

"Not a word," Amber said, "I can't figure it out, I woke up one morning and he was gone...didn't leave a note or anything."

"That's Methos for you, always doing whatever it takes to stay alive," Joe said.

Amber grunted as she put her books on the table, "I really wish you wouldn't talk about him that way."

"I'm just saying, why else would he become his own Watcher? To remain a myth, to hide, it's what he does best, always has been."

"Oh I'm not too sure of that," Amber said, "he sure knows how to make a damn good mess of something between a tornado and a high-ball."

"I guess, another thing he did well was down all the beer he could get his hands on," Joe said.

"You're not serious, Joe."

"Yes I am, once he came into my bar just as I got a large order of the finest beer in Seacouver, went to the bathroom and came back to find that that bastard and downed over half of it, I'm surprised his stomach didn't burst," Joe replied.

"I'm going to my room," Amber said.

"So Joe," Richie said as he poured a glass of wine, "Is Mac here?"

"Not yet, I thought I'd surprise him."

"He can't have a heart attack you know."

"I know, but there's still the fun in trying, so how was college today?"

"How was it?" Richie asked, "How was it? Manual, hard, tedious labor is easier than this crap. You wouldn't believe the stuff I was thrown into, Algebra, Calculus, CIS, Jazz, American Government, Learning Italian..."

"Maybe I'm set in my ways, Rich, but when we went to college, we only had four courses," Joe told him.

"Oh I know, it's just that uh...there were a few guys who couldn't pay their grant and...Mac keeps saying how I need to learn what I can in the time I got, and besides that, I was already thrown into most of this stuff before the school year started..."

"So how do you plan to finish all that work by the end of this semester?"

"Oh it's easy, down at the general store, they're selling caffeine pills, taste awful but it's cheaper than all the coffee I'd have to go through, so I go through this mediocre stuff in the afternoon, stock up on this stuff and then burn the midnight oil 'til dawn," Richie said.

"Careful you don't burn yourself out," Joe told him.

"Impossible, nothing can burn me out," Richie said.

"I've heard that before, and the guys who said it wound up in straight jackets," Joe said.

Richie rolled his eyes, just then, Duncan and Amanda walked in and Richie saw it as his opportunity to slip away while they talked with Joe.

"I wish you could be a little more supportive of this."

"All I'm saying is you can take Italian, Jazz, Government, and Accounting, and you can drop all that severe crap, and still make good grades by the end of the semester. Government is a senior course, you know."

"Well what about you? How are you doing in English, History, and..."

"I'm learning Japanese, great way to insult people, listen, "_yuu gumai hiretsukan_" pretty good for the first week, huh?"

"What's it mean?" Richie asked.

"It means 'you stupid bastard', see? I can insult everyone in the college and as long as they're not in my class, they'll never know," Amber laughed.

They heard someone knock on the doorframe, they turned and saw Amanda standing in the doorway, looking worried.

"Amanda, what's wrong?" Richie asked.

"The hospital just called, a friend of yours is down there right now, seems she was in a car accident," Amanda said.

"Who was it?" Amber asked.

"Yvonne Taylor."

Amanda drove them to the hospital, she knew neither one of them was in any position to drive and the hospital didn't need two more automobile fatalities.

"So what is it about this girl?" Amanda asked.

"By the time we get down there, you should know," Amber said.

"Oh...."

"Did they say what happened?"

"Her mother just called from the hospital saying that there had been an accident, that's all I know."

They got to the hospital and while Amanda parked the car, Amber and Richie jumped out and headed to the building, she quickly followed. By the time she caught up with them, they were yelling at the nurse at the front desk trying to find Yvonne's room. Her mother, Sylvia Taylor, came around and told them they had to wait before the doctor would let anybody in.

"Well while we're waiting, why don't you two take a seat and I'll get some coffee to settle all our nerves," Amanda suggested.

"And I'll be right outside Yvonne's room when the doctor comes out," Sylvia said.

Richie and Amber sunk down into their seats, Amber looked around the room with one eye while the other stayed in its place, she never liked hospitals, to her, it was Death's Doorway. Richie rested his head against the back of the chair and muttered something quietly.

"9...10...never sleep......again."

"Huh?" Amber asked, feeling half asleep when he said it.

"We used to say that when someone got sick at foster care, they'd have a doctor look at one kid, and we all figured if we fell asleep, they'd hack open our throats with surgical scissors," Richie said.

"My mother witnessed something like that when she was 7 and had her tonsils taken out, some nurse went crazy, after that, every night when someone passed by their room, the hid under the bed, so why are you saying it now?" Amber asked.

"Because, I'm exhausted, but I can't fall asleep because I know that any minute, that doctor is going to come through that door and give us the inevitable news," Richie said.

"Oh...it sounds familiar."

"Probably would, it was a line used in "Nightmare on Elm Street"," Richie said.

"Huh?"

"You know, Robert Englund, Freddy Kruger, 50,000 gallons of blood spewing from a bed, "Nightmare on Elm Street"," Richie said.

"Oh I never saw that, but I do remember him from V," Amber said, "a great line, "I am the guy who played Freddy Kruger in all 7 Nightmare on Elm Street films! I've been in 50 movies! I'm about to be bludgeoned to death, I bet on my gravestone it'll say R.I.P Robert Englund, he was the guy from V!"

"What?"

"That was when he guest starred on MadTV during a Halloween special, they spoofed Scream and the killer went around killing Kenny Rogers, Bjork, Marilyn Manson and Robert was the next. But they did the ol 'pick a number between 1 and 10' routine and he got lucky...what a fruitcake."

"This is ridiculous," Richie said.

"No, Willie from V was ridiculous," Amber said.

"How can we be sitting here making jokes when we know what's about to happen to Yvonne?" Richie asked.

"Oh please, you make it sound like she's a mortal dying, incase you haven't noticed, we've come out of worse scraps than a car accident," Amber said.

"Well while you two are laughing it up," Amanda said as she came back with the coffee, "drink this."

"What are we going to do with Yvonne?"

"What do you mean?" Amanda asked.

"She's going to need a teacher, you know that," Richie said, "I don't know anyone who could do it."

Just then, Sylvia came back around, "the doctor says we can see her now."

"What?" Richie asked.

"Is she allright?"

"I don't know, let's find out," Sylvia said.

They got up and headed over to room 310, Yvonne's body was far from what was expected, and it seemed she was still alive. She barely had her eyes open, but she was definitely awake.

"Yvonne, how are you feeling, baby?" Sylvia asked.

Yvonne opened her eyes slightly wider, "Relieved, am I going to be allright?"

"Yes but you should take it easy for a while," the doctor said, "I want you to stay off your right hip and you won't have much use of your left arm for a while, but you came out of it lucky."

'I'd like to get the hands on the bastard who did this to my baby," Sylvia said.

"The coroner got to him first, ma'am your daughter is lucky to be alive," the doctor told her.

"Yvonne, do you feel anything at all?" Amber asked.

"No," she replied, "most of my body's numb, I can't feel a thing."

"Do you remember what happened?" Richie asked.

"Yeah, I was in my car going one way on the road, and this guy came around in this huge old piece of junk, rammed into me, our cars swerved off the road, mine got caught in a large whole in the ground off the road, his rolled downhill into a ditch and caught on fire. That's when I blacked out," Yvonne said.

"Did the guy look familiar? Did you know him?" Richie asked.

"No, I never saw him before in my life, just another case of drunk driving I suppose," Yvonne tiredly said.

"But you're sure she's going to be allright?" Sylvia asked the doctor.

"Positive, but she'll have to stay overnight for observation, if you three want to stay..."

"No!" Yvonne said, "you can't let them stay here, they have too much to worry about already, they don't need to get a late start tomorrow because of me, I'll be fine. Now go on home to your family, I'll be allright."

"If you're sure," Amber said.

"I'm positive, now go, please," Yvonne said.

"Well Richie, how was your night?" Duncan asked the next morning.

"Let's see, almost had a friend become Immortal, had to cram for an Italian test and another freaking CIS exam, on top of that I woke up this morning hanging upside down from my bed...just fine, thanks for asking."

"What? Amber didn't jerk you off the bed completely so you'd crack your head on the floor?"

"She didn't stay in the room last night, she moved her things down to another room," Richie said.

"Why?"

"She wouldn't say, and believe me, when she won't say, it's better not to ask, you live, so did you and Joe catch up on a lot?"

"Yeah, he started another bar in Seacouver, and he's met someone..."

"Someone? What? You mean like a man, a woman, or...like Boy George? Two in one?"

"Her name's Patrice, she seems nice, healthy, intelligent..."

"So she can be the senior Miss America, so what?" Richie asked.

Duncan opened his mouth to speak but shut it again when Amanda entered the kitchen.

"Good morning boys, and what are you debating on?" Amanda asked.

"Uh...poltergeists," Richie said.

"What?"

"No, actually, we were discussing Joe's girlfriend in Washington," Duncan said.

"Duncan MacLeod, if you're getting the wandering eye, I'm gonna..."

"No! No-no-no! Nothing like that!" Duncan laughed, "We just."

Duncan got cut off from the noise above. No one was sure what it was, but whatever it was, it made part of the ceiling fall in on them.

"What is that?" Amanda asked.

"I'll go check," Richie said.

Richie headed upstairs and over to the room where Methos used to stay, since he left last May the room hadn't got a lot of us, but apparently someone had taken up vacancy in it. Richie threw the door open and stood in shock at what he saw. Amber was on the floor by the bed, obviously she fell. Richie immediately noticed there was something different about her, but it took him a minute to find out what it was. She had chopped of most of her hair and dyed the rest black, she had put three piercings in her face, and she was wearing two crosses around her neck.

"Amber...what the hell did you do to yourself?" Richie asked.

"Nothing that I didn't want, so what's the problem?" she asked.

Obviously Amber did this little number last night, rather than getting any sleep, she was certainly bitchy enough to be convincing as far as Richie was concerned. Richie couldn't find the right words to say to appropriately discuss what she'd done to herself. That's because there were none, she looked like a mixture of Methos and Tom Bailey. Now Richie knew what it felt like to be a parent. He walked over to the bed and said whatever came to mind.

"Wha, wha, wha, how? What did, who...how could...what did you do to yourself? Did you suddenly take up an interest in mutilating yourself?" Richie asked.

"What I did was my own business, Richie, and I would appreciate it if you would stay out of it, and out of this room," Amber said.

"Amber..."

"Now!"

Richie's eyes bugged out as he turned and let, Amber sounded like a bitter lion, ready to bite his head off at the right time if he provoked it long enough.

When Richie returned to the kitchen, he still had a shocked look on his face, which was obviously noticeable.

"Richie, what's the matter?" Amanda asked.

"I'm not sure but I think Amber may have been possessed by a priest," Richie said, "she looks like death warmed over...it's really freaky, and she..."

"What?"

"She looks like Morticia Addams in a trench coat, and she's hacked off her hair and she's got these small metal things in her face, and I gotta tell you Mac, they can't be too comfortable," Richie said.

"I don't believe this," Duncan laughed, "So she's become a Goth?"

"I don't know, I guess, she looks like a freak is all I know, and then she was pissed off and ready to bite my head off or something," Richie said.

"Probably still sore over last night, I'm sure she'll come out of it," Amanda said.

Yeah, but I bet it'll be a hell of a job getting those rings out of her face, Richie thought.

Amanda went out the front door and saw Amber bunched up in the front yard.

"What are you doing, kid? Trying to wrestle yourself into a pretzel?" Amanda laughed.

"Mac calls it meditation, he says it's supposed to help you relax, to think more clearly and get a lot of stress off your back," Amber said, "all I'm getting is a hernia, a bad back, and a sore uni, where're you going?"

"To buy some new dresses."

"I thought you had plenty of them," Amber said as she slowly unfolded from her pretzel position.

"I did, but Richie was smoking in our bedroom and let his lit butt in one of Duncan's suits in the closet and the whole rack went up in flames."

"Oh, well have a good time," Amber said.

Amanda left within a few minutes, Amber had gotten herself out of the puzzle but remained hunched over on the ground, attempting to pop her back back into place. Then she felt the buzz, but she had come to take it as nothing serious, so she lowered her head again and tried to get her spine popping. Amber stopped when she felt the tip of a sword at the back of her neck!

"It's over this time, Methos!" a grunted female voice said.

Amber jumped on her feet and turned around and saw a tall woman with dark hair, and a sword pointed directly at her.

"Excuse me ma'am, but I think there's a major sex confusion here," Amber said.

The woman's face had become a mask of horror, realizing her near-fatal error, "You're not Methos!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock.

"No but aside from the blade, I'm flattered by your mistake," Amber said as she stepped further back from the sword.

The woman stuck the tip of the blade into the ground and grasped the handle, seemingly leaning on it for support to stay balanced, "Oh my God!" she said as she ran her free hand up her forehead, "I can't believe this, I almost killed an innocent person."

"Well," Amber said, "I wouldn't say I was innocent of anything, if you saw me on Saturday nights you'd know why...can I help you?"

"I was told that Methos was living here," the woman looked up at Amber, her eyes still wide.

"That's impossible, nobody knows about him except us."

"Who is us?" the woman asked.

"Us would be me, Joe, Richie, Amanda, Connor, and Duncan."

"Duncan's here?!" the woman immediately asked.

"Yeah, he's right inside, you want me to get him?" Amber turned her head to face the house, "DUNCAN!" she turned her head back to face the lady, "he should be out any minutes, you know him?" she turned her head back again, "DUNCAN!" she looked back at the lady, "You'll love him, he's really," she turned her head again and saw Duncan, but not before yelling, "DUNCAN! Oh, uh, Duncan, a lady to see..."

"Cassandra!" Duncan exclaimed.

"You know this woman?" Amber asked.

Amber stopped after saying that, where had she heard that name before?

Flashback: February of the same year. Methos was talking to Amber about his past. "Back then I killed 10,000 because I was good at it, and I liked it, no regrets, no worries, I murdered and raped countless women, destroyed entire villages. Cassandra was a bitch every time she lived and she knew it, she just wouldn't-"

"_What?" Amber asked._

"_Too much information kid, sorry about that," Methos said, "how'd my personal life get in there?"_

"_Who's Cassandra?" Amber asked._

"_An Immortal who wanted my head because of what I did thousands of years ago...she came after me, she would've gotten me except MacLeod stopped her..." Methos said._

Amber looked over at Cassandra, she didn't seem to be the type who would just flat out kill someone, but she was living proof that the woman obviously wasn't what she appeared to be. She felt herself becoming sick and went in the house, she ran over to Methos' old room and bolted the door. One thing she didn't want to face was the woman who almost killed her friend in cold blood.

Duncan insisted that Cassandra stay the night, seeing as how it had been several years since he saw her, so they could catch up on several things. When Amanda saw her come in, she was less than pleased.

"So Cassandra's staying here too, what if Methos comes back?" Richie asked.

"I doubt she'll stay for long, in any case, we haven't seen that conniving Welsh gecko for four months, why would he want to come back now?" Amanda asked.

Richie thought for a minute and said, "good beer, young women, hot nights, and a string of BDSM clubs."

"I'm sure there's plenty of those wherever he is," Amanda said, "besides, you know Methos, he can take off within a moment's notice. He's probably traveled halfway across the globe by now, met plenty of exotic whores."

Richie thought of a nice comeback for that, but he decided it was best not to start WWIII between them. After all, it looked like they had enough problems already.

"Duncan, I already told you, I don't want to be any trouble," Cassandra said.

"What trouble? I can put you in a room down here, it'll be fine," Duncan said.

"You're sure about this?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Read my lips, I-want-you-to-stay-the-night," Duncan said.

"Well I guess I can't say no to that, now can I?" Cassandra laughed.

"You know Amanda, I don't know what it is, but there's something about this woman that makes me want to puke," Richie said.

"Same here, but Duncan somehow sees her as an angel, so I guess we have to play nice for the night," Amanda said.

Night came quickly, so did a thunderstorm. Amber was resting peacefully in an odd way as every few seconds bright lightning lit up the sky, most of it followed by a loud BOOM of thunder and the heavy pouring rain beating against the window. Then Amber realized that the rain wasn't the only thing beating the window, there was someone outside! She sat up in bed and looked right out the window, and was relieved and at the same time surprised when she saw who it was.

"Methos!" she loudly whispered as she opened the window.

The partially drowned figure made his way into the room and shut the window, then he turned around and drew Amber into a welcoming embrace.

"Nice to see you too, kid," he said.

Amber locked her arms tighter around Methos' body, "oh boy am I glad to see you!"

"How assuring," Methos said, "say kid, did you miss all of me or just the parts that you're turning into silly putty and bone powder?"

"I'm sorry Methos," she said as she let go, "but you wouldn't believe what's been going on since you left, everything is crazy. Yvonne was almost killed, Richie and I can't get alone to save our lives, there's a new Watcher working at the funeral parlor, Cassandra came looking for you today and..."

"What?"

"Cassandra, she came here and she thought I was you, so one minute I'm trying to get my back to pop, the next she's got her sword at the back of my neck," Amber said.

"Has she gone blind?" Methos asked, "You don't...wait a minute."

Methos reached over and turned on the light, he had to admit, except for half a foot and a few pounds' difference, Amber looked a lot like him.

"What in the bloody hell did you do to yourself, kid?" Methos laughed.

"So I look like death warmed over, so what?"

"I'm sorry I got you into this with Cassandra, kid, I didn't think..."

"She somehow knew that you were staying here, someone must've ratted you out, and whoever it is must be dead by now," Amber said.

"Trust me, Cassandra has her ways of finding out these things," Methos assured her, "so, you've been staying here this whole time?"

Methos noticed except for a few of Amber's things, his room had been left exactly as he'd left it four month ago.

"Pretty much, Richie and I have been arguing almost non-stop for months, so I just moved my things down here, let me tell you it's been a lot better down here than I figured...so what've you been up to all this time?"

"For a few weeks I was gone on Watcher business, after that I disappeared off the Eat Coast and decided to stay at the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort, marvelous place, next time I decide to blow this pop-stand I'm gonna take you with me, you'll love it," Methos said.

"Maybe so...why'd you return to Tampa if you enjoyed it so much?"

"Well, someone has to stay here and help you drive MacLeod out of his mind, well if you're going to stay here, I think I'll get my things and move to another room..."

"You can't do that," Amber gripped Methos by his shirt.

"Why?" Methos asked firmly.

"Because Cassandra's staying in another room, you move down the hall or anywhere else tonight and she'll find out," Amber explained.

"What?"

"Don't worry, Duncan's letting her stay for the night, come morning, she'll find you're not here and she'll leave, I...I can't stay with Richie, I'll just some extra bedding out of my room and I'll stay on the couch," Amber said.

"Now don't do that," Methos said.

"Why not?"

"You can't expect me to believe that you spent the last four months sleeping on my couch."

"No but you weren't here then, you are now," Amber said.

"So what? We've been in the same bed before," Methos said.

"Allright, but I'm going to get some bedding from Richie's room so I don't short-sheet you in your sleep. Besides, we're expecting a cold-front soon."

Amber headed back over to Richie's room and slipped in, she hadn't expected Richie to still be awake. But there he was sitting on his bed reading American Government.

"So Amber, what brings you back here?"

"I need some extra bedding out of the closet."

"Why? What happened?"

"I'm going to tell you something but you can't tell anyone, especially Cassandra, she'd kill him."

"Who? What's going on?" Richie asked.

"Death found its way home," Amber calmly explained.

Now it made sense to Richie, Cassandra came looking for Methos, who he himself had addressed as 'Death on a horse'. If she knew about him, she'd kill him for sure, Mac wouldn't be able to stop her now.

"What're you going to do?" Richie asked.

"Well, there's been enough confusion in this household already, besides, in the distance from here to her room, she won't know about him, so providing she doesn't come up here anytime between tonight and tomorrow morning, Methos has nothing to worry about. But I'm staying with him incase something does happen. Methos might not be able to stop her, but I'll be damned if I let her kill him."

"Well if that's the case, then good luck," Richie said.

"I don't need luck, I just need my sword," Amber said.

She picked that up too before she went back down to Methos' room. She had a feeling that it was going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 2

"So how was the summer?" Methos asked.

"Fair, June was cool, then it heated up, then come July 4th, we all risk getting blown up, me especially when I tripped running from packs of firecrackers. Then after that..."

"More details kid, humor me, I've been abroad in Bora Bora for two months, where it's very peaceful but as far as mayhem goes, it leaves something to be desired."

"Oh, okay...Well Richie and me and a few of our friends at the college got together, threw a toga party at town hall, we got drunk and completely stupid, we didn't come to until the sun was up the next day, then the police reported vandals broke in and tore up the place. So we moved the next party to the beach, Richie and this other guy got into a fight, started a drag race, the other guy drove his car right off the rocky path and landed right in the ocean, then, after that we spent 12 straight days on speed, which meant no sleep, and we just did whatever the hell we wanted. After that, we slept for two days and then once we came to, I dragged him down to the beach and got him completely waterlogged for five hours...of course he also got sun burnt something awful, but not for long. After that, Richie and I had a contest to see who could get the drunkest in the shortest amount of time...of course Richie won, in fact he got so drunk he couldn't even remember taking off his clothes, wrapping himself up in his bed sheet, stealing the shade off the lamp and doing the bump to "Don't worry be happy". Of course it took him a few hours to get through the hanger...Then at Independence Day, we decided to really go out with a bang, so we got $200 worth of fireworks, unfortunately a few of them misfired and we came extremely close to being a human bonfire that night, me especially. Richie on the other hand couldn't get enough of it and later when we got home decided to take up tap dancing on the barbecue. Which probably wouldn't have been so bad if Connor wasn't grilling T-bone steaks on it. After that, we decided to invade the public swimming pool and...well mister big-shot decided to show off by jumping off the high diving board backwards...it wasn't a pretty sight, believe me."

"He did the bump to "Don't worry be happy"?" Methos cynically asked.

"That's all you want to talk about after all I told you?" Amber asked.

"And to think I missed all that," Methos laughed.

"Well...I mean you were really lucky you weren't here early June, it wasn't all that it's cracked up to be," Amber said.

"I'm sorry kid, I forgot..."

"It's okay, it was pretty bad at first, but I had Richie to get me through it, and...it's better than it had been before...but after that I got so bombed I hardly remembered the rest of the week...but enough about my 'exciting' life. What's new in the wonderful world of Methos? The world's oldest Immortal?" Amber asked.

"Oh...nothing really, just once again have to give a false report about myself to HQ and from there on out, you can pretty much draw your own conclusion...so now that you two are back in college..."

"Don't start with me, the only thing I'm liking about it is learning Japanese with how to say to someone 'you stupid bastard' without anyone knowing what it is," Amber said.

"And Richie?"

"Richie could care less about his classes and his instructors and his grades, he's just counting the days until he can get out of it."

"Well why the bloody hell is he even bothering to go? He can just drop out."

"Sure he can, but he won't, it's an ego thing, he wants to prove to Mac that he can go through the four years and actually do something with it. Real pain in the ass of course, but he still does it."

"I see..."

"So when did you get back to Tampa?"

"A few hours ago, the rain slowed me down a bit."

"Just a bit? You look like a drowned Chihuahua," Amber pointed out.

Methos looked down and saw his clothes were wringing wet, forming a large puddle on the floor.

"Good thing this is a floor you can live on," Methos said as he went over to his closet, "do you want to leave the room?"

"Why should I? I've seen you get dressed before."

"Yes but never completely."

"So what? You see one guy's ass you've seen them all, really nothing worth looking at. Nor would you want to."

"Funny."

"Seriously, Methos, it's good to have you back, things have been kind of boring this past month...now with Cassandra here, and you showing up...this could get interesting."

"This could get **bloody**," Methos added as he changed his clothes.

"Methos."

"What?"

"What did you do to Cassandra that she hates you so much?"

"Didn't we go over this this past winter?"

"Not completely."

"Oh well, let's see," Methos sighed, "when I was running with the Horsemen we killed her people, including her, I took her back to the Horseman's Camp and ran by her the rules she had to abide by to stay alive. However she wasn't so willing to behave, and I...better not going into any further details."

"What? You're just going to leave me hanging here?" Amber asked.

"I could leave you hanging from the ceiling kid, the point is it's late, I'm tired, and I want to sleep, goodnight!"

"Fine."

Amber turned off the light and got into bed beside Methos, a few minutes later, Amber heard something, she opened her eyes and looked over at Methos and saw his body was shaking.

"Are you allright?"

"The last time I saw Cassandra, MacLeod was the only thing that could stop her but now...now I'm not sure even he'll be enough."

"Don't worry, as long as I'm here you got nothing to worry about."

"Don't worry? Kid you can't do that, it's too great a risk on your part!"

"So what? She tried to kill you once before, she's not going to again, I'll see to it personally."

"Kid, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Cassandra is a hundred and forty pounds of persistence, she'll stop at nothing to kill me if she finds me."

"Which is why she's not going to, come tomorrow morning, I'll have her out of here and out of your hair. Now quit worrying about that bitch and go to sleep."

"Excuse me," Methos rolled over to face Amber, "since when do you use that language involving **my** enemies?"

"Call her what you will but I have no feelings for her one way or the other, we've all had horrible things happen in our lives, we accept them, we get on with our lives, look at me."

"Look at **you**? Bad example kid, you **killed** the man who attacked you and then you took his Quickening, that's what Cassandra wants to do with me."

"Yes, as far as the victim goes, it's the same, but with the attackers, there's a loophole in your case. Mario was the same person 12 months ago that he was 4 years ago, he didn't change one bit, you on the other hand are **not** like what you used to be."

"Try telling that to Cassandra, she stills sees me as-"

"I know, I know, Death, Death on a horse, how old is that woman?"

"I don't know, I guess somewhere over three thousand years, why?"

"I think it's sick if me at what would be 17 can figure you out better than she can after 3 millenniums."

"Some people just can't let go of the past, kid, look at Kronos."

Doh! Methos mentally kicked himself for bringing up Kronos, it was one thing to know what **he** did as a Horseman, but Kronos...it was best not to go down that road with her. Or with anyone for that matter. He still remembered the feud between he and MacLeod when he told him the truth.

"What'd he do?"

Leave it to the kid to ask the irritating questions, Methos thought to himself, he knew he wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight with this kid.

"Huh?"

"Kronos, what'd he do?"

What was he going to tell her? The leader of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sought to ride again and terrorize the world for control of it? That story was better told over a round of vodka mixed with turpentine.

"It doesn't matter, just go to sleep," Methos told her.

"Fine."

Duncan had returned from his run, he'd gotten up an hour earlier than usual and decided not to waste it. He was boiling some water on the stove when Cassandra came into the kitchen.

"Good morning Cassandra, how did you sleep?"

"Fine, I would've felt better if I knew for a fact where that bastard was."

Duncan lowered his head and sighed, how many times had he gone over this with her?

"You know I want him to live," Duncan said.

"And you know I want him dead," Cassandra added.

"Cassandra, Methos is not the same person he was during the Bronze Age, even you're not the same person you were during the Bronze Age."

"Of course not, then I was naïve and vulnerable, look where it got me. Well I'm not like that anymore...if I find him...**when** I find him, his head is mind. You can't protect him your entire life, MacLeod."

I can always try, he thought.

"I know that," Duncan sighed.

I just have to protect him whenever you're in the area, he thought.

"Are you sure he won't be coming back?" Cassandra asked as she polished her sword.

"Again, I have no idea where he is, what he's up to, or even if he'll be coming back," Duncan said.

"That's just the typical jellyfish," Cassandra said, "he realizes he's gone too far and then disappears before he has to pay for it."

"What'd he do this time that I should know about?" Duncan asked.

"Nothing new, it's all old, in the past," Cassandra said.

"I wish it would've stayed in the past," Duncan said under his breath.

"You can call it whatever you want, MacLeod, but I am going to have my revenge on this man if it's the last thing I do."

And as stubborn as you're becoming, it may be, he thought.

"Where's the kid? I want to apologize for yesterday before I leave."

"That's not necessary, I'm sure it's forgotten."

"You don't understand, Duncan, I almost killed her because I thought she was Methos," Cassandra said.

"Well she hasn't said anything."

"She also hasn't made eye contact with me since."

"She's probably upstairs with Richie," Duncan said.

"Is it a habit?"

"No, they're roommates, Cassandra, I thought I told you that."

"Probably did and I just forgot, I'll just go talk to her for a minute and be on my way," Cassandra said, "where's his room?"

"Upstairs, to the left, straight ahead, third door from the left," Duncan responded.

Cassandra headed upstairs and over to Richie's room, she knocked on the door, hoping they weren't still asleep. The door opened and instead of seeing the girl she nearly killed yesterday, she saw Richie, looking like he was on speed, tense, sweaty, and wide eyes, too wide for early in the morning.

"Yeah Cassandra, what is it?" he asked.

"Is Amber up?"

"I don't know, she didn't stay with me last night," Richie said.

"But Duncan told me I could find her here," Cassandra said.

"Sorry, I woke up and she was gone, must've gone on a run, weird thing about her, she likes to get up when it's 50 degrees out and dark as hell to see the town before it gets up, sorry," Richie said.

Richie closed the door and Cassandra felt a bit embarrassed and puzzled. She ignored the buzz in Duncan's room and headed over to the room down the hall where she felt another buzz. She opened the door and froze in her tracks at the sight. Even in the dark she could see the inevitable figure. Amber asleep on the bed with Methos laying on top of her, his face buried in her abdomen.

"Oh my God," she barely whispered.

Her expression was hardly audible, but loud enough to wake Amber, she slightly looked over as Cassandra charged forth with her sword drawn, "You bastard!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Cassandra?!" Amber sat up and grabbed the blade just a second before it would've been at Methos' neck.

Cassandra and Amber began yelling at each other and it became impossible to understand either one of them. The lights came on as Duncan, Richie, and Amanda entered the room.

"What's going on here? What's the—" Duncan stopped as he reached the bed and saw Amber and Methos.

"Oh boy," was Richie's only response.

"Amber, he better have dropped dead on you or you're in a lot of trouble," Amanda told her.

"Would someone mind telling me what the hell's going on here?" Amber asked, "Can't a person get any privacy anymore? I wasn't—"

"Why are you making it sound like he did nothing wrong? He's right here!" Cassandra said.

"Yes and did you notice for one minute that he hasn't awoken to any of this noise? Or that there was only one Immortal buzz coming from this room for that matter?" Amber asked.

Then it hit Cassandra, and everyone else, there wasn't any sign of life in Methos' body.

"What the hell?" she asked.

"After yesterday when she tried to behead me because she thought I was Methos, I knew that if he came back, he'd be in trouble with that bitch still here. He came last night at about 3, and I knew I couldn't let him anywhere else in this house otherwise she would've noticed, so he stayed here, and then I figured she'd be coming up sometime during her stay before she left, so I figured to get rid of one buzz until she left. But I figured rather than leave the body out in the open, I'd put it somewhere where no one would see it, unfortunately he's put on a few pounds since he left, so I couldn't quite move him anywhere, so I fell back onto the bed with his body in my arms and I fell asleep. I figured I'd move him early today so no one would be the wiser, and let him revive after she left. If I'd known she was coming...what were you doing up here at six in the morning anyway!?"

"I cam up to apologize for almost taking your head yesterday, but I'm seeing now that it was a mistake."

"Cassandra!"

"Duncan, why would she want to protect this thing?"

"This thing happens to be my friend, and if you want to get to him, bitch, you'll have to get through me to do it," Amber told her.

"Wait a minute!" Richie said, "Methos doesn't seem like the type willing to go along with a plan like that, what'd you do to him?"

Amber lifted Methos' upper body off her and let his body fall the other way on the bed, revealing a knife in his chest.

"You did that?" Cassandra asked.

"Allright so I lied, I grabbed him and he put up a struggle, and to put an end to it I plunged the knife into his chest and his body fell against me and we fell on the bed and I conked out, that's all!" Amber confessed.

"That's all?" Duncan asked, "You make it sound as if you do this regularly!"

"Well killing him isn't, but obviously I care enough about him to keep him away from that bitch by any means necessary," Amber said.

"Amber!"

"Mac, would any of your normal friends try to kill Methos?"

Cassandra looked at Duncan as she too awaited his response, did he truly believe she was crazy? It took a moment of hesitation, but Duncan finally answered, "No."

"Duncan! You can't believe that I'm insane!" Cassandra said.

"I don't, but to be honest Cassandra, even if I told all the people I knew who were Immortal about Methos when he was with the Horsemen, I highly doubt they would try to kill him," Duncan told her.

"I don't believe this, you're taking HIS side?"

"I'm not taking anybody's side, I just know that I'd like everybody to calm down and you!" he pointed at Amber, "get that lug alive so I can set him straight."

Amber playfully jabbed Duncan in the side and murmured into his ear, "I don't think you have to worry about that."

"You know what I mean!" Duncan turned back to face Amber, "I can't believe you did this! I can't believe you spent the night with a corpse on top of you!"

"Well it's not like I'm one of those people obsessed with necrophilia, besides you think it's easy sleeping with a hundred and fifty-five pound cadaver lying on top of you for three hours?" Amber asked.

"And you!" Duncan grabbed Cassandra by the forearm, "Come with me."

The three adults left, but Richie stayed to help Amber get Methos off her body.

"Man, I can't believe you spent the night with him lying on top of you, I'm surprised you're not hysterical by now."

"You think I should be hysterical? Just wait 'til the Welsh bobble head finds out Cassandra found him out," Amber said, "besides, if a 7-year-old can stay the night beside his dead mother and not be hysterical, I can handle this, I did it, I can undo it."

Amber jerked the knife out of Methos' chest and within a few seconds, Methos gasped for air and immediately sat up.

"What happened?" he gasped.

"Well I got good news and bad news," Amber said, "first the bad news, Cassandra found out you were here even though I killed you for the night."

"Then what's the good news?"

"Mac's got a temporary restraint on her and Amber stopped her from taking your head," Richie said.

"Oh just marvelous," Methos sighed.

"But, I gave you my word, and I stuck to it, if she wants to get to you, she's going to have to go through me and that ain't gonna be happening anytime soon," Amber said.

"You should be so lucky," Methos said, "she was going to leave today, now what's going to happen?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Duncan, I don't care what he means to you, he killed my people and made me his slave for I don't even care to remember how long," Cassandra said, "someone has to kill him."

"Cassandra, he is not the same person he was thousands of years ago, can't you understand that? He doesn't do what he did," Duncan said.

"You can defend him all you want, but someone has to make him pay," Cassandra said, "and it might as well be me."

Amber entered the living room where Duncan and Cassandra were having their discussion, "You're not going to do anything to him."

Cassandra looked up at Amber from her seat on the couch, "That bastard turned my people into a pile of bones!"

"That bastard just happens to be my friend who saved my life on more than one occasion, which was unexpected of him," Amber replied.

"I'm sure it was after he told you about me," Cassandra said.

"No actually it was before AND after, he's just the guy who volunteers to pull my ass out of the fire," Amber told her.

"And apparently you're up for repaying the favor," Amanda smirked.

"I don't believe this," Cassandra said, "I can't believe that anyone would want to defend that thing," Cassandra turned to Amanda, "how long have you known him?"

"I'm not sure, a few years I guess, why?" Amanda asked.

"Did you have any idea that he was in the Horsemen of the Apocalypse?" Cassandra asked.

"No."

"Well say he did to you what he did to me, would you want him to walk away alive?" Cassandra asked.

"Well..." Amanda thought, "if I had known him during the Bronze Age, I wouldn't have been in your position."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cassandra asked.

"It means she wasn't the weak vulnerable and helpless type," Amber said, "Amanda's been a thief and a fugitive all her life."

"Well, for the most of it," Amanda said.

"So what are you saying? He did this to me because I was weak? Is that what you think of it?" Cassandra asked.

"Of course not, it's just..."

"Just what?" Cassandra asked.

Duncan had stayed out of the catfight and backed over to the other side of the room, running his hand over his face in embarrassment over the fight.

"You know," Amber said, "I think I saw this once on Dynasty."

"Well I don't know Methos as well as Duncan does, or Amber or Joe or any of them, and I can't speak for him, but when he was with the Horsemen, I think they targeted a lot of their victims as the peaceful, pacifistic kind. Like your people were."

"What? That is so stupid, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Cassandra said.

"Not really, you take modern day rapists, they want women who won't put up a fight, and won't be any trouble. Now a woman gouges them in the eyes, grips their cock until they hear two olives pop and they got nothing to worry about, well pretty much nothing," Amber said, "wish I knew that five years ago."

"What happened five years ago?" Cassandra asked.

Amber didn't speak, she just stared as Cassandra with a blank look, Duncan slowly approached the woman again to explain.

"Five years ago, an Immortal named Mario Venvetta killed Amber's parents and raped her because she accidentally left his hand infected and permanently scarred."

Cassandra looked down at the floor, then back up at Amber, "Kid, I am so sorry, if I knew..."

"If you knew Mario Venvetta the way I did, you'd be dead by now," Amber said, "I had tried by all means necessary to avoid him for four years, but he tracked me down, put me and Duncan in the same boat and tried to kill us. It took us some time, but I finally killed him..."

"And where was Methos during that time?" Cassandra asked.

"At first we didn't even know she knew him, but a few days after we found out about Mario, he came crawling out of the woodwork, stuck around through the whole thing, even afterwards," Duncan said, "we'd gone our separate ways and he came with us, a few weeks later, we caught up with Amber again..."

"And since then, we've basically become one heaping, maddening Addams-like family," Amber said.

"How long have you known him?" Cassandra asked.

"Altogether I can't say, I first met him after I found out about Immortals, that was after I killed two of them posing as their own Watchers, he was a real pain in the ass at the time, but I enjoyed his company, then a few years later, I ran into him again, and what nobody ever knew is that the time I wasn't with Duncan and Amanda, I was staying with him."

"WHAT?!" Duncan and Amanda exclaimed.

"Yeah, they always thought I went my own way and Methos went...wherever the hell he goes. We met up at his place until we decided to come back. That's how I know him as well as I do, and in that time I've come to know that he is far from what he was 2 thousand years ago."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Cassandra said, "you are talking about a man who didn't give a damn about anything but keeping himself alive."

"Well obviously that's the difference in how you see him and how I see him, he is the only man who had the gall to come down and get me one night when I was fucking drunk out of my mind and sick like a dog. If Mac knew at the time, he would've killed both of us, that was a risk Methos knew he was taking when he decided to come and get me. But he did it anyway, when no one else, especially anyone at the bar, would think enough o do anything. My point is Cassandra, you can't blame Methos for what all four of the Horsemen did thousands of years ago."

"Yes I can," Cassandra replied, "Methos is the only one of them still alive, the rest of them are dead."

"Who killed them?" Amber asked.

"What?"

"Did you kill the rest of them?" Amber asked.

"No," Richie replied from the doorway, "Methos killed Silas, and Mac killed Caspian and Kronos."

"Yet he let Methos live, why is that?" Amber asked.

"The same reason I've been telling him for years," Amanda said, "he's just an Immortal boy scout."

"Cassandra, Duncan is a very reasonable person here, he wouldn't let anyone live who didn't deserve it, now...out of the two of them, who was worse, Kronos or Methos?"

"You're asking me to decide which of them was more worthy of dying?"

"You're damn right I am, which was the worse of them? Kronos or Methos?"

"Kronos," Cassandra replied with a second's hesitation.

"And Duncan took his Quickening, right?" Amber asked.

"Yes."

"Allright, and out of the two, which was worse, Caspian or Silas?"

"This is stupid," Cassandra said.

"May be, but I'm trying to get to a point here, which was the worse bastard?" Amber asked.

"Caspian."

"So, Duncan took Caspian's Quickening, **and** then Kronos', whereas Methos took Silas' Quickening, now, it couldn't be that Duncan didn't kill Methos because his Quickening would be far too horrible to take, would it?" Amber asked.

"You don't know that, you don't know how many Immortals he's killed in his time," Cassandra said.

"But do you honestly think any of them could be as bad as Kronos?"

"No, why?"

"Sometimes Immortals receive Quickenings that go horribly wrong, they take on the personality of the Immortal they killed. Now out of the two, who would you be more concerned of Duncan acting like, Kronos or Methos?"

Richie as if on cue, butted in on the conversation, "If it were me, I'd rather take the old timer than that bastard, Kronos."

"You're not helping this," Cassandra said.

"Well?"

"Kronos."

"So why do you think Duncan hasn't killed Methos yet?"

"I honestly don't know, other than he's become a naïve fool."

"I've been telling him that for years," Methos said as he entered the room.

Cassandra looked up at Methos, "You!" She jumped off the couch and started for Methos, but Duncan and Amanda grabbed her and jerked her back onto the couch.

"I didn't kill him because I didn't see him worthy of dying," Duncan explained, "don't tell me you've never met someone of the sort."

Cassandra didn't say anything.

"So Duncan hasn't been around as long as you have, so what? He knows good judgment when he sees it," Amber said.

"Not always," Methos replied in a smart-ass way, remembering Duncan when he first found out about him being in the Horsemen.

"So if he doesn't see Methos as worthy of dying, why should you?" Amber asked.

"Nothing you can say can change what I've felt because of him, nothing can, nothing except revenge," Cassandra said.

"Well just remember, if you plan on killing him, you'll have to take my head first, and I can assure you, I've never lost to anyone yet," Amber said, drawing her sword out of her trench coat.

"Well isn't this just a pleasant sight to wake up to in the morning?" Joe asked as he entered the room.

"And where have you been old man?" Richie asked.

"Yeah, where have you been? We've had a near-massacre on our hands for the past hour and a half," Amber said as she pointed the tip of her sword at Cassandra's throat.

"Amber."

"Duncan if she truly intends to kill him, she'll have to get through me, or wait until I'm dead," Amber said.

Cassandra got on her feet and drew her sword, the two looked ready to fight to the death, when Joe came up and intervened.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" he said as he got between the two of them, "Mac, get a hand on your squeeze, Amber, get over there with the real old man."

Duncan pulled Cassandra down on the couch again and Amber walked over to Methos, they made an odd but similar looking pair.

"Now look, until one of you leaves, we're going to have to reach a truce here, we can't be going into WWIII every time you two face each other in this house, there's just no other way," Joe said, "Cassandra, I think that kid's made a few points, weird as it sounds...Duncan's had his share of enemies and if after going through them he'd decided Methos doesn't' deserve to die, I don't think you should either."

Cassandra glared over at Methos with a look that (if he weren't Immortal) would kill him, "Allright, I don't intend to be leaving anytime soon so I suppose we should draw a truce during our stay, doesn't mean we have to like it."

"Oh, of course not," Methos agreed, "matter of fact, I'm happy to hate you."

"Well since you're back, I'm going to go move my stuff back to Richie's room," Amber said.

"Just out of curiosity, how long are you staying, Cassandra?" Richie asked.

"Well I hate to be a burden," Cassandra started.

"Too late for that," Methos said under his breath.

"I think I'll stay about a week, then I'll be on my way out of here," Cassandra said.

"Did you bring any bags with you?" Methos asked.

"No, they're at the hotel," Cassandra said.

"Oh, well I'll be happy to get them for you," Methos went over to Duncan and murmured into his ear, "And throw them into the ocean."

"Oh this is starting to be fun," Duncan sarcastically said, "I can already tell this is going to be a long visit."

"What a day," Methos said to himself.

After going to the hotel, getting Cassandra's bags, moving her things into a spare room without throwing them out the window, getting his own room straightened up again, going to the college as instructor for two classes which lasted over six hours, he was exhausted.

"I'm getting too old for this," he added.

Boy was he getting tired of saying that, imagine how tired the others must be of hearing it, he thought.

By now, he didn't care, he just wanted to sleep, he went into his room, threw on the lights, shut the door and started unbuttoning his shirt, not even noticing the figure laying on top of the bed.

"Hello Methos."

"Hello," he weakly replied. Then it struck him who was in the room with him, "Hello!?" he repeated as he gripped his shirt shut again, "Amber, what the bloody hell are you doing in here?"

"Well, Richie and Amanda and I took a vote, and we decided it'd be safer if I stay with you tonight," she said.

"What?" Methos asked, his eyes wide with shock, "What's the matter? Did you and the brat get into another fight?"

"No, actually it's you I'm worried about," Amber said as she rolled over onto her stomach.

"Oh, why?" Methos asked as he frantically redid his shirt.

"Cassandra, I don't trust her, I know you two reached a truce but I don't believe she'll hold up her end of the bargain. Mac tells me she gets more stubborn during every visit," she explained.

"How true, but kid, you can't guard me my entire life."

"No, of course not, just until someone takes Cassandra's head, or...she comes to her senses."

"That'll never happen, do you know a hitman we could call?"

"Not personally but I could look one up."

"No, forget it kid, just relax."

"Yeah, relax, no problem, easy thing to do with a headhunter in the house," Amber nervously grunted as she crossed her legs at the foot of the bed.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that, you're starting to remind me of someone I know," Methos said.

"Who?"

"MacLeod."

"Why do you always call him that? He **_does _**have a first name you know."

"You call him what you like, I call him what I like."

"Just don't call him the wrong thing, you may end up a trophy above the mantel," Amber said.

"Oh I wish," Methos said, sounding as if he really meant it, "it would certainly be a lot easier than having to spend the next week in a house with Medusa."

"What are you worried about?" Amber asked, "You have 4.5 people watching your back."

"Four and a **half**?" Methos repeated.

"Yeah, me, Richie, Amanda, Joe and Mac's gonna have to keep an eye on Cassandra too you know."

"This is ridiculous, I'm going to bed," Methos said.

"Don't mind me, I'm gonna be on duty tonight," Amber said as she headed over to his closet.

"Come again?"

Amber closed the door and cocked a shotgun she'd found earlier, "Guard duty...Cassandra tries anything funny, I'm gonna turn her into a sponge."

"This is crazy."

"Maybe now, just wait until she makes her move," Amber said as she looked down the barrel.

"Don't you know that's a good way to get your own head blown off?" Methos asked.

"Of course, that's why I take precautions, this thing's so old, I'm just looking to see if there's anything down there that needs removal."

"Just be careful, we don't need someone else losing their head in this house."

"Oh? Someone stop by and I wasn't informed?"

"No, but between you and me, I do believe that MacLeod has truly lost it, he thinks that the two of us can be kept in this house without trying to kill each other? It's impossible, I tell you. Im-pos-sible."

"So now that we've determined that, get to sleep, I've got a job to do," Amber muttered.

Amber pulled up a chair a couple of feet away from the door and sat down, shotgun in arms. Methos groaned and rolled over onto his side, within a few minutes, he was lost in a deep sleep. Amber was relieved because this was the first time for the day she'd been able to clearly face facts. She'd almost lost Methos today, Cassandra would've taken his head, there was no mistaking it.

Then again if I hadn't been here she wouldn't have come up here and found him, she also thought.

Well it didn't matter now, they were all together in that house and as long as Amber had a say in it, Cassandra wouldn't be getting anywhere near Methos. Amber looked back at Methos, out cold on the bed. Well at least somebody would be sleeping that night, she figured.

Man, I gotta get some sleep soon, Richie thought to himself.

What a week, he was fresh back in school with everybody he knew, he had a dozen reports, papers, assignments, and essays due in before the next week, only a few of which were completed, and now there was a massacre-in-the-making between two people living in the same house as he, furthermore, he'd been on caffeine for five days and was starting to see everything third dimensionally.

Richie heard someone knock on his door, "come in," he called.

Amanda stepped in wearing her flimsy nightgown and robe, "Richie, I know college is hard on the young, but this is the 5th night you haven't gotten any sleep and quite frankly you're driving me crazy with it."

"Sorry Amanda, but I'm too tired to sleep," Richie said, "so, has Cassandra tried anything yet?"

"No, but I think she will."

"I give her two days tops," Richie said.

"I won't even give her that long," Amanda said.

"Why do you think she's even bothering to stay?" Richie asked.

"Why do you think? She's hoping to catch Methos off guard at the right moment and then..."

"I get it, I get it, I just don't know how she plans to get to him when Amber's watching him day and night."

"Well, Cassandra can be a very stubborn and persistent woman, I'm sure she's had plenty of experience with it before," Amanda said.

"You don't think she'd..."

"I'm sure Cassandra won't do anything **too** stupid, just the same, before I turn in, I think I'll have a short woman-to-woman talk with her," Amanda said.

"Woman-to-woman? Where're you gonna find the other woman?" Richie asked.

"Oh come on now, Richie, Cassandra may deserve to be burnt at the stake, but she's a woman nevertheless," Amanda said as she turned around and left.

"Yeah right," Richie replied after she left, "she's a woman, and I wear a D-cup."


	4. Chapter 4

"You don't understand, Duncan, it was all I had to go on, seeking vengeance on him for what he did to me, it was all that kept me going," Cassandra said, "you have no idea how many times I wanted to die to end the torment of what happened."

"Yes I do," Duncan replied, "probably as many times as I wanted to die after I first became Immortal, and was shunned from my own clan."

"My point is, the minute I'm out of here, if I see him again, he's mine for the taking and you can't stop me," Cassandra said.

"Nothing's stopping you now," Duncan told her.

"Yes there is," she responded, "over the centuries I've just gained too much pride to flat out kill him after an agreement, it'd be too simple. I want to torture him good and hard until he finally breaks. I want him to know what he put me through. I don't trust him anymore than I could throw him."

"If you weren't willing to stick to the agreement, why do you think Methos would be?"

"I'm not, I just happen to know he's got that maggot by his side and she'll be a hard target...I'll never know what she sees in that thing..."

"I thought we went over this this morning," Duncan said.

"We did, but still, that kid should put herself in my position, if she knew Methos as I did," Cassandra said.

"How about if you knew Mario like Amber did? He almost did away with all of us," Duncan said.

"Was he really that bad?"

"Yes. With him, there was no reasoning, no mercy, just kill or be killed, and that wasn't so easy either. He had hundreds of lackeys all just waiting for the right moment to get rid of us. That was not a particularly good time for any of us, except for maybe Richie."

"What happened?"

"Well, somehow Amber found out where he'd been buried, put some kind of curse on him and brought him back to life."

"I find that a little hard to swallow."

"So do I, but I can't think of any other way he could be here now, can you?"

"So...what happened?" Cassandra asked.

"Well, it was crazy, everybody running around, bombs going off, people getting shot, Richie showing up, Amanda showing up, everybody almost got killed, Mario dug up every body of any Immortal Richie and I had ever killed, and found a way to reanimate them so we found ourselves battling the living dead!"

"Are you serious?"

"That's not the end of it, when we tried to escape, one of them bit Amber and that's how she died and became Immortal, then she caught up with us and took Mario's head, after that, we went our separate ways."

"And _he _went with you?"

"Enough, Cassandra, you weren't the only one in for a surprise today, you think I knew those two lived together when they weren't here with us?"

"And you still don't want to kill him? I don't believe you, Duncan."

"Cassandra, if you think," Duncan laughed, "if you think Methos would..."

Then Duncan remembered something, Methos might not be the same man he was during the Bronze Age, but he had sometimes referred to himself as a ladies man or something of the sort. And he must've been somewhat convincing to the ladies if he had over 60 wives in his lifetime.

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"What?" Duncan repeated, returning to reality.

"You know something that you're not telling me, Methos _has_ done something hasn't he?" Cassandra asked.

"No he didn't!" Duncan replied, "I don't think---he wouldn't---I don't know....I wouldn't think that he...that they...I don't know, I'm just stuck."

"See?" Cassandra asked, "You know it's not smart to trust him, especially with her."

"I don't know anything about him, her, or you!" Duncan said.

"What?"

"You want so much to find something wrong with him that I'll take his head, or at least all you to, but I can't, and I won't. Methos may be Methos but he uses his head when he does anything now. I wish you could understand, he isn't the same person he was when you knew him, he is not the same."

"Keep telling yourself that, Duncan, maybe...in time...you'll start to believe it," Cassandra said.

"I don't need to tell myself anything, and I'm getting tired of repeating it to you, you know Methos isn't the same person he was, so why can't you accept it?" Duncan asked, "I have."

"Of course you have, you didn't have to live with what he did," Cassandra said, "he may not be what he was then, but that doesn't change what he did."

"Maybe not, but if you even remotely think he would try something of the sort now..."

"It doesn't matter, he has to pay for what he did."

"It clearly won't do any good to try and talk any sense into you tonight, maybe in the morning you'll be more willing to listen to reason," Duncan said.

"I don't think so."

"Now look Cassandra, we have all endured a shock today, but we have to get over what happened and try to find a solution to you two's bickering, now I'll see you in the morning, goodnight!"

Duncan left Cassandra's room and headed over to the kitchen to get a drink before he headed upstairs. While he was occupied doing that, Amanda sneaked out of the den and over to Cassandra's room.

"So, did you and MacLeod get anywhere?"

"No further than we were already," Cassandra said, "I still want that bastard's blood."

"Well, I can't speak for Methos, but have you ever thought about how he must feel? He's over 5,000 years old! By now, his conscience has to practically be eating him alive," Amanda said.

"That thing has _no_ conscience," Cassandra replied.

"You don't know that, we've all done things we regret."

"Not him."

"That may be how you see Methos, but I know him better than that."

"Do you?"

"Yes, one night we discussed him being in the Horsemen, it was a long conversation and it was too much for him to remember, he started crying after a few minutes, and he didn't stop until right before the sun came up. There was just too much to remember, everything he's done, all the people he tortured and killed, lives he destroyed, and then returning to the camp and having to answer to Kronos."

Cassandra let out a pathetic laugh, "that thing answering to Kronos? The King of the Bastards?"

"Yes, if you think he did what he did without it being barked at him from Kronos, think again."

"That thing didn't do anything he didn't want to, nobody ordered him," Cassandra said.

"And how long were you even in that camp? A couple of years? Methos was there a hell of a lot longer than you, and if you had any idea what sort of torment, hell, humiliation and punishment he endured at the hands of Kronos, you wouldn't be so quick to want him dead."

"Is that a fact?" Cassandra asked in disbelief.

"Yes it is, and one more thing you should know."

"What?"

"Duncan and Methos have been friends for over 5 years, but they're also like brothers at times."

"Brothers?" she laughed.

"Yes, and at other times, he sees him as his own child, just as he does Richie and Amber, and another thing you should know is he cares about him more than you will ever know, and if anything happens to him," Amanda said, "you're the next to die."

Amber let out a startled scream and sat up and saw she was surrounded by darkness.

Oh thank God, it was just a dream, she thought as she struggled to catch her breath.

She turned on the light in her watch, 2:20 A.M., she'd been out cold for almost an hour. Then she realized why she'd even set the alarm in the first place, Methos! She jumped out of the chair and ran over to his bed, she saw he was still in his with his head still attached to his body, and he was breathing deeply in his sleep. Amber sighed in relief, and crawled onto the bed beside Methos.

You just keep yourself alive you filthy old bastard, she grinned.

Methos then said something in his sleep that broke the silence in the room.

"Go lay down, Caspian!"

Methos then let out a brief snort and an incoherent noise resembling a bark.

"Atta boy," Amber mumbled to herself, "put the coffee table with teeth in his place, heh heh."

Methos snorted again and opened his eyes, "Kid, what're you doing?"

"I'm taking a break from marching back and forth waiting for Medusa to come in," Amber said, "what're you doing?"

"Are you allright, kid?" Methos asked as he rubbed his eye.

"Yeah, just fine, and you?"

"Considering the day I've had, yeah, just fine," Methos replied.

"Methos, can I ask you a question?"

"You never stopped before, allright, what is it?" he asked.

"What was it like when you were with the Horsemen?"

"What?"

"What was it like when you---"

"I heard you the first time, why do you want to know?" he asked.

"I don't like what Cassandra's been saying about you, but I want to know what really went on back then so I'll know for sure."

"Oh."

"I won't hate you if you tell me, I just need some answers," Amber said.

"Can you guarantee that?" Methos asked.

"Come on, when was the last time I tried to kill you?"

"Never...but it would be easier if you had...allright kid, you really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Well then I should hope you have a strong stomach."

"I don't need to know every detail, just tell me...what did...what did Kronos do to you?"

"To me? Bad example, now what he did to Caspian after..."

"I want to know what he did to you, that you agreed to join him in the first place."

"That part you can't quite blame on him."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, the world was a different place, people certainly weren't what they are today, most of them aren't as polite as the muggers, beaters and felons that you know today, and Kronos seemed to be the reigning leader of them of his time."

"And you?"

"I was a pacifistic lush, like you've always known, just not as smart as I am now."

"I'm listening."

"I was pretty much settled down into one place, very peaceful, very quiet, very boring. But one day that all changed when **he** came riding in..."

"Kronos."

"Yeah...he came in and immediately started what he does best."

"Would that be killing, torturing, or just maiming?"

"Yes...there were about...twelve of us there at the time, he immediately went after the first five, the others tried to leave and I...well far be it for me to say I was no different...then the next thing I knew something got lodged into my chest...the next thing I knew was I was staring out into the darkness. I was hoping I was dead, I wouldn't care, not a chance in hell. There he stood, bearing that same sadistic grin he had every day from there on out. After he had his way with more, in more ways than one, he said it was usual that I was still alive, and there _might_ have been reason enough in that to keep me alive. So he gave me an ultimatum, either I go with him, or I lose my head and...well I guess Cassandra's got _that_ part of me down very well. Always doing what I have to to survive."

"You were young, times were different, you didn't have much of a choice, I don't imagine a couple thousand years had effected Kronos any."

"If you mean had he slowed down any...no, had he gotten any weaker...no...he was just as strong, and powerful, and a lot smarter."

"Sounds like you two were the best of the bunch."

"Yeah, who would figure? The two of us evolved nicely within time, Silas stayed in the past and Caspian...Caspian wound up in a padded cell after being the Jeffery Dahmer of his lifetime. But Kronos still hadn't changed, he'd gotten more familiar with the changes in time, but he was just the same."

"Whereas you did a 180 on yourself...if Cassandra knew..."

"Cassandra has every right to hate me and even more so to want me dead...**I'd** want me dead if I were her," Methos said.

"You don't say."

"I do."

"Go on, where'd Heckle and Jeckle come in?"

"They'd already been with him for some time...I was the last one to join with them...they thought I was crazy...I however...thought they were a couple of blooming idiots. Every time I turned around, there they were at each other's throats, every time Kronos was gone. When he was around...he threw me in as the referee...however one thing about Kronos is he can be very..."

"Idiotic?"

"No."

"Perverted?"

"Something like that."

"Oooh! I got it! Retarded!" Amber said.

"No," Methos laughed, "no, he was very domineering. Once I unwillingly got in the middle of one of their fights, and they both got tripped up and fell on me."

"How dreadful."

"Too true, Caspian didn't bother me too much, that was before I knew of his craving for human flesh...but Silas..."

"I get the picture, not exactly a good combination. Drop a 300 pound man on top of a 98 pound...whatever you are."

"When Kronos came around, he wasn't pleased...that is an understatement, he was furious."

"Why?"

"I don't know...we all had our share of fights between one another, I guess he just never saw me as the type to get _that_ involved in a fight with them."

"What'd he do?"

"I don't know, actually...after that, the next thing I recall was being on the dirt floor of his tent, waiting for the physical wounds to heal...Kronos saw just about everything and everyone that he let live, as his possession, and sometimes plaything..."

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, kid, it's nothing you could help..."

"But you got away from him."

"Eventually, we all went our way for about 2,000 years, then one day Kronos comes up out of the blue, and I find he still has a thing for turning me into a shish-kabob."

"But he's dead now, you don't have to worry about him now."

"Who ever said I was worried? I'm just bloody glad it's over," Methos said as he rolled onto his side.

"What about Cassandra, what'd you do to her?" Amber asked.

"You must really be determined to take my head before the night's up," Methos said.

"Come on, if I could stand listening to what happened with Kronos, then I think I could stand what you did to Cassandra."

"I don't think so kid...if I told you what I did to Cassandra long ago, **you'd** want me dead."

"Oh come on, it's not like you were Mario or anything."

"What I did to Cassandra exceeds anything Mario could've done to you...and if you still want to hear more, you're just asking for it."

"You're telling me that every minute she was your captive in the Horsemen's Camp, you subjected her to every form of punishment, humiliation and torture that came to your mind?" Amber asked in disbelief.

"No, there were a few 'permanent' ways I left out..."

"Methos!"

"No, not **every** minute, but I might as well have, if you put together everything I did to her, you would understand why she wants me dead."

"If I knew half the things you did to her I'd probably want you dead, what's the point?"

"The point is I know you've been in the same position she has and I know that you've suffered long enough because of what Mario did to you, which is nothing compared to what I did to Cassandra. And I know what it's like to be in that position myself, which is why I'm never too fond of bringing this up. And if I do, it'll just hurt you more, it'd hurt me more but I wouldn't have time to suffer because you'd kill me."

"Oh give me a break, I put up with you this long, nothing you could say could surprise me," Amber said.

"MacLeod knew me longer than you have, kid."

"So what's the point? He's still here."

"But you don't know what happened after Kronos came around the last time."

"Well whatever happened...he overlooked it obviously, he's still here, I'm still here, I'm not going anywhere, so why don't you just tell me what you did to Cassandra that she wants you dead 2,000 years later?"

"I killed her people, turned them into a pile of bones, I killed her, I took her back with me and made her my slave, my captive, and my harlot. I used her whenever it came to mind, I showed no mercy, and told her she could please me or die. How's that for starters?"

"Sounds like a cliché, moving on," Amber said.

"Kid, you can't be serious, you don't find that disturbing?" Methos asked.

"I find life disturbing in general, regardless, I want to know everything you did to her."

"She was stubborn, so she left me with no choice but to kill her again, that repeated for some amount of time until she finally learned to obey me. After that...I didn't do anything to her that Kronos never did to me. Not that I'm excusing it mind you."

"Na, of course not."

"I don't know what more you want to hear kid, I killed her repeatedly, after that I raped her constantly, degrading her, humiliating her, all for my pleasure. What more do you want to hear?"

"Nothing," Amber replied.

I knew it, Methos thought, here it comes.

Methos expected Amber to draw her sword from beside the bed, he closed his eyes and rested against the headboard as he expected to feel the cold tip of the blade at his throat. Instead, he felt something heavy against him. He opened his eyes and saw Amber lying against him.

"Wha???"

"Cassandra met a man 2,000 years ago who murdered her people, tortured her and used her as a helot on a regular basis. Some 2,000 years later she comes around expecting to see the same man. I know someone who when we first met, took me in, let me live, and has since been helpful whenever I needed him. If you were the same man, I'd kill you in an instant, but you're not. You're different now. You've been different for some time," Amber realized, "she just has to know that."

"I'm surprised at you..."

"So some things never change, so count your blessings, be glad you're still alive, and let's get some sleep," Amber said.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about her," Duncan said.

"Maybe you don't need to do anything," Amanda told him.

"I know her, all too well, she's not going to keep her word, the minute Methos' guard is down, she's going to try to take his head. What am I going to do?"

"Try going to sleep, what good will you be if you can't concentrate?" Amanda asked.

"How can you be taking this so likely? Don't you realize how serious this is?"

"It's 3 o' clock in the morning, seriousness checks out of my system at midnight, Duncan please come to bed, I'm exhausted," Amanda begged.

"Amanda, what if she did take his head? What would happen?"

"It would depend, do you think the Quickening would go wrong? I mean, Cassandra bores me to tears as is, if Methos got in her, maybe she'd liven up a bit."

"AMANDA!"

"Duncan please, Cassandra's not going to do anything tonight, Methos has Amber guarding him tonight, besides we're right down the hall from them, we'd know if she came up here, now please, get into bed and go to sleep, I can't rest when you're pacing around," Amanda groaned as she lowered her head onto a pillow.

"I am NOT pacing around," Duncan said.

"Duncan, if you don't get into this bed soon, you're going to find yourself going through the floor," Amanda said, "now come on, right about now Methos has all the protection he needs aside from two armed Pinkerton guards. He'll be fine, in the morning, we can discuss this again, now please, come to bed."

"Allright."

Duncan reluctantly climbed into bed alongside Amanda.

"Duncan."

"What?"

"I know you're worried about him, I know what he means to you, he means a lot to me too, but nothing is going to happen...so just try and get some rest. Cassandra can't get to him now," Amanda groaned as she turned over, "he'll be fine..."


	5. Chapter 5

Methos awoke the next morning when he realized the massive weight on top of his body. He looked up and saw Amber had fallen asleep on top of him. He slipped out from underneath her and got out of bed and headed over to his closet to get dressed. Amber woke up and got a good look at Methos from the back.

"Nice view," she said.

Methos jumped around when he heard her, then headed into his closet to continue getting dressed.

"So I guess it's safe to say we made it through another night without Medusa coming in," Amber said.

"Apparently so," Methos replied from the closet.

"How are you this morning?"

"Don't ask...and you?"

"Great, just great, I just wish Cassandra could've kept her opinions to herself," Amber replied.

"Oh? Why?" Methos asked as he came out of the closet, fully dressed.

"I fell asleep while I was on guard duty last night and no thanks to Cassandra striking up the past, I dreamt about the night Mario dragged me behind that building and had me pinned to the street for 2 hours," she explained.

"I'm sorry to hear about that, kid."

"Now, I imagine that you were a regular pain in the ass to her back during the Bronze Age," Amber started.

"More ways than one."

"But as much complaining as she does about you, I really wish she would've known Mario. Then she wouldn't be able to complain, she'd be dead."

"Kid..."

"I'm not wishing it on her, so don't go down my throat for that, I'm saying, if she knew him, she wouldn't think anything of you."

"You don't know that, I told you, if you knew me back then, you'd want me dead now as well," Methos told her.

"I don't know that and neither do you, you're just going on what one person remembers."

"Yes, the ONLY one who survived that era and is alive to this day besides me. I was there, I think I know how horrible it got."

"You don't get it, do you?" Amber asked, "I don't care what Cassandra says, I don't care what you say, nothing you did to her could be as bad as what Mario Venvetta did to me, and if Cassandra ever knew him like I did, she would regret the day she came to pick a fight with you...and if she ever tries that again, I will murder her with my own two hands if I have to."

"You'll never understand, will you, kid?" Methos asked.

"Probably not."

"You'll be lucky if you don't," Methos said.

"That would probably be the only good thing to come from this."

For the first time in almost 2 days, Methos laughed, "Now I know why I never wanted to be a father. You can never accomplish anything when you pick a fight with a kid, it never gets you anywhere, nothing is ever gained and on top of it, they're always the ones who're right."

"Well," Amber said, "if all that's true, that means you'd either be a real crappy father, or a pretty damn good one. So now, we have two arch nemesis' living in the same home who can't be set within three feet of each other, and one is expected to stay for a whole week. What're we going to do?"

"Don't look at me," Methos said, "for the first time in over 2,000 years, I am NOT the one with the plan. And I'm damn glad about it."

"So Mac, did you sleep last night or did you just wait up expecting for the power to go out and the windows to smash?" Richie asked.

"Actually I slept rather well last night, although I'm not sure why," Duncan said.

"I can vouch for that, he never moved," Amanda added.

"And you?" Duncan asked.

"Just fine, now about Cassandra," Amanda said.

"Amanda!"

"I don't think she'll be any trouble now, I had a woman-to-woman talk with her last night and explained to her how important he is to us. She didn't really say anything afterwards, but I think she got the point."

"Are you sure?"

"Well believe me, Duncan, after a thousand years I've learned how to get a point across to people."

"Well that's good, the last thing we need is those two going at each other's throats in the middle of the night," Richie said.

"Are you allright, Richie? You seem a bit weird this morning," Amanda said.

"I'm fine, just fine, I just keep getting the feeling I forgot something."

"What was it?" Duncan asked.

"I don't know, I forgot."

"Well try and remember," Cassandra said as she entered the kitchen.

"And how are you today, Cassandra?" Duncan asked.

Cassandra looked over at Amanda and said, "slept like the dead."

Cassandra got over to the sink when she saw Richie, "Whoa, Richie, are you allright? You look like crap."

"Thank you Cassandra, you're looking rather well yourself," Richie said.

"I mean it, are you getting any sleep?"

"Not yet."

"What about Amber? Did she stay up all night hitting the books too?" Cassandra asked.

"How do I know? She wasn't with me," Richie said.

"Well then were was she?" Cassandra asked.

"I'll give you a guess," Methos said as he entered the kitchen.

"Well," Cassandra said, "where is she?"

"In bed."

"Whose?"

"Ulysses Grant's bed," Methos said, "Whose do you think?! She's in mine."

"What?!"

"She didn't get any sleep last night, she was walking around the entire bloody time, complaining about some noise. Said she didn't want to wake anyone else up so, naturally she came to my room."

"You expect us to believe that?" Cassandra asked.

"Well it might help if you dug your head out of the gutter, Cassandra," Methos said.

Cassandra looked over at Amanda who ran her hand across her throat as a brief idea of what was to come if she didn't settle down.

Richie pulled up his sleeve and looked at his watch, "Would you look at the time? And Joe's still asleep? Oh boy, I'm gonna go give him a wakeup call."

Richie picked up a heavy pot and a metal spoon and headed towards Joe's bedroom.

"Richie!" Duncan bellowed.

"Never mind, I'll go stop him," Amanda said, "You just keep your eye on Click and Clack. Make sure they don't kill each other."

Amanda went after Richie, leaving Duncan, Cassandra and Methos alone in the kitchen.

"Well..." Cassandra said.

"Well what? You got something to say, then say it, if not, then keep your mouth shut," Methos said.

"And have you anything to say?" Cassandra returned.

"If you expect me to beg for my life, then you'll be waiting for a long time," Methos told her.

"How long?" Cassandra asked.

"Allright you two," Duncan said, "Cassandra, I don't want you giving Methos any trouble and Methos"

"What?"

"Stay away from Cassandra for the rest of the day," Duncan said.

"A pleasure," Methos replied.

"You don't need to worry about me," Cassandra said, "I'll be happy to keep my distance from him."

"Good, now that that's settled..."

"MacLeod..."

"Yes Methos?"

"What time is it?"

"It's time..." Duncan stopped as he gazed at his watch, "time we went to work...Cassandra, are you going to be allright being here while we're gone?"

"What've I to worry about? I'll be here alone with the kids and Aman..."

"No you won't, the kids are coming with us," Methos said.

Then I'll be here alone with _Amanda_! Cassandra thought.

"Oh you know what? I just remembered, I never officially checked out of the hotel, I have to go back there, check out, and after that I think I'll just see what you find so attractive about Tampa," Cassandra quickly said.

"Suit yourself," Duncan said.

"Richie!" Methos called, "Get that good for nothing bundle of steel out of bed, and get down here!"

"Okay!" Richie replied.

"Well, we must be going, Amanda!" Duncan called.

"Is everyone deaf around here?" Cassandra asked.

"Not yet, but we're trying," Amanda laughed, "what is it, Duncan?"

"We have to be leaving, so while we're gone, show Cassandra a good time when she gets back," Duncan said.

"Where's she going?" Amanda asked.

"To check out of her hotel room," Methos answered.

"Well don't worry, I'll make her feel right at home," Amanda said.

Cassandra saw the way Amanda glared at her, it was the same look she had on her face last night when she told Cassandra she'd kill her if anything happened to Methos. Cassandra didn't like this, she had to get away from Amanda until Duncan returned that afternoon.

"Well I better be going," Cassandra said.

"Us too," Duncan said.

Richie and Amber came running down the front stairs and were out the door just a few seconds before Duncan and Methos left as well.

"Well?" Amanda asked.

"Well what?" Cassandra asked.

"You got anything to say?"

"Yes...goodbye."

Cassandra threw on her coat and walked out the door.

"Now Mister..."

"MacLeod."

"MacLeod, I don't understand this, you were doing so well in our two courses last semester, why do you want to transfer to teaching elsewhere in the university now?" Dean Rooney asked.

"Call it a parental instinct, I like to keep an eye on the two kids I have living with us," Duncan said.

"I guess that's understandable...that's Richie Ryan and..."

"Amber Jenzon."

"Oh yes, those two."

"Dean, what problems could you have with my kids? They're perfect angels."

Okay, Duncan thought, they're more like the Hell's Angels...but he didn't need to know that.

"Well Mister MacLeod, I don't want to sound as if I have anything against them..."

"Too late."

"But they don't seem to be as willing to cooperate with us now as they were last semester, I don't understand, they have no thrive now, no reason to continue with their education."

"How long has this been going on?"

Well it really started the day after the semester started, but it's gotten worse in the last couple of days."

"Well the last couple of days we've had a problem in the family. I'm sure they're just having trouble concentrating."

"Is it anything serious?"

"No, not now anyway."

"Well if they want to pass this semester, they better get their act together," he said.

"Give them a break, they're fresh back to the university, a few days of less than perfect work isn't going to hurt them."

"More like less than acceptable. Your son has been dozing off in all his classes, and that girl acts like she's left her body completely. They pay little to no attention whatsoever to their instructors."

"Dean, do you have kids?"

"No, and I'm glad of it."

"Well I have 2, and I'll tell you I'm damn proud of both of them, I don't care how well they do or how terrible they do, I don't care whether or not they pay attention because I'm sure they have a pretty damn good reason to ignore some of their instructors," Duncan said.

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Very well, follow me."

"Where are we going?" Duncan asked.

"You are going to get a brief look at just what these two are doing, first stop, Philosophy," Dean Rooney said.

Duncan followed the dean up the stairs and over to the Philosophy classroom. They watched from outside the doorway. While the instructor scribbled on the blackboard, most of the students seemed distracted, others were writing in their notebooks. Duncan noticed Richie had his head resting on his arms on his desk in the back of the room, while Amber stared at the wall ahead of her, not moving a muscle, not even blinking.

"Now, before this semester is over, I'm sure you'll understand my passion for the work of the greats, like Mark Humphrys. And like him, share my passion for science, and not religious beliefs. Most religion has been separated from my scientific teachings, and with good and proper reasoning; unfortunately, some of it still remains mandatory. It's truly pathetic that this is necessary, since religions only prove people do not examine the evidence as to whether it is _true_ or not. My 'religious' belief is that we are the only beings that exist, who are alone, but don't worry, it's not the end of the world. We can still do something with this universe if we put our minds to it," Jonathan Hale, the Philosophy teacher said.

"This is the way he talks to the class?" Duncan asked the dean, "I can see _why _they're not paying attention!"

Richie snorted in his sleep a few times before the quarterback beside him elbowed him in the ribs. Richie snorted louder as he woke up, "Wha...what is it?"

"Please pay attention, Mister Ryan, what I'm trying to teach you is very critical," Mr. Hale said.

"Bullshit," Amber coughed into her fist.

"Mister Humphrys once said "I don't believe in the existence of God, devils or Satan, angels, demons, or heaven or hell. These things are only inventions of our imaginations, and do not exist in reality. I don't believe in human souls or spirits, or life after death. I don't believe in the existence of any kind of spiritual world or supernatural world. These are all inventions of the human imagination and have no basis in reality." What does this tell us?" Mr. Hale smirked.

A young woman in the front row answered, "Basically the idea of the Savior and the Messiah are just images made up, in the hopes that there actually being a Heaven would ease a dying person so they wouldn't go crazy. And over the years, these kinds of ideas have plagued mankind so there is religion just about everywhere you look. When in fact, there's no reward or punishment after death."

"Very good, Christine," Mr. Hale grinned as he adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses, "now, one major existing problem today seems to do with all the different religions: Catholic, Hinduism, Jewish, Baptist, Wicca, Jehovah's Witness, Mason, Lutheran, Buddhism, Islamic, Scientology, Mormon, Methodist. What seems to be the problem here?"

"Oooh!" Amber barked as she raised her hand, "Oooh! Oooh! Oooh! Oooh!"

"Yes, Miss Jenzon?"

"A lot of people feel threatened by there being many different religions. Some of which are cults disguised as religions, and then the real religions themselves. Some people would like for there to be one existing religion or none at all. I can't say I'd want everyone to have the exact same beliefs, so if something of the sort were to happen, I'd go with no religion because religion is not actually necessary to worship God. As been said in the past regarding the Catholics, religion can't save, only God can."

"Young lady, have you even been paying attention to anything I've been saying?" Mr. Hale asked.

"No, I've been listening to what you've had to say for the last five days and I have to tell you, you're full of more malarkey than the deli," Amber said.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Mr. Hale asked.

"No, I'm just saying you seem to worship this Mark Humphrys more than a fool of romance worships the ground his lady walks on, not to mention the feet that do the walking," Amber said.

A few students up back laughed, but Mr. Hale was not amused, and neither was Duncan.

"What's the matter with him?" Duncan asked.

"There is nothing wrong with Mr. Hale, he is perfectly fine," Dean Rooney said.

"If there's nothing wrong with him, why's he shoving his atheistic beliefs down their throats?" Duncan asked.

"Now," Mr. Hale said, "on the blackboard is what Humphrys described as his 'Universe'. I want you to examine the list slowly, you'll be tested on it later."

The students gazed at the writing on the blackboard:

"I. I don't believe in a creator or act of creation. There is no evidence that the universe was made or created by anybody.

II. I don't believe in any of the miracles or supernatural events described in the Old or New Testament. These are just stories.

III. I don't believe that any successful prophecies have ever occurred in human history.

IV. I don't believe that any miraculous cures have ever taken place in all of history.

V. I don't believe in possession, witches, wizards, magic, spells, signs, visions, ghosts, or any supernatural or spiritual events, world, or beings. None of these things exist.

VI. I don't believe that any prayer has ever been answered in all of history.

VII. I don't believe that any god has ever spoken to humanity through any medium in all of history.

VIII. I don't believe that such a thing as a first human existed, nor do I believe in original sin. I don't believe in the Garden of Eden, the Fall of Man, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, or the Exodus. These are just stories.

IX. I don't believe in the divinity of Christ. He was just a man like me. He never said anything that any ordinary man at the time could not have said.

X. I don't believe in the virgin birth, the immaculate conception, the Ascension, the Assumption, the resurrection, or any of Christ's alleged miracles. All of these things are just stories, inventions of the human imagination. None of these things actually happened in reality."

"I want you to study them closely and..." Mr. Hale said, "yes Miss Jenzon? Something you want?"

"Yes, you need to learn proper grammar and punctuation, Immaculate Conception is capitalized, so is Resurrection, and is Virgin, and I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure Creator is too."

Mr. Hale laughed, "Ms. Jenzon, unless you have anything relevant to say regarding the list..." Amber raised her hand, "yes? What is it?"

"I've seen ghosts," Amber said.

"Oh have you?" Mr. Hale exhaled.

"Yes. Down at the cemetery, the railroad tracks, and in our bathroom," Amber said.

The class laughed at the latter part of the response.

"Really Miss Jenzon, I don't..."

"Also, I once saw a man come back to life after a spell was cast," Amber said.

"You did not," Mr. Hale told her.

"Yes I did, he's right here in this room," Amber said.

All the students glanced at one another in confusion.

"Miss Jenzon!"

"I have to comment on this," Richie stood up, "I too have to disagree here."

"Do you?" Mr. Hale hissed, "and what do you wish to argue with?"

"Well, there's no evidence on how the universe was created because it was thousands of years ago, but around the time it **was** created, there might have been some evidence. But you wouldn't know that because you weren't there at the time," Richie said.

"Oh please, Mister Ryan!"

A blonde girl in a large purple sweatshirt raised her hand before standing up, "Actually, they're right, I'm hereditarily psychic, I've had visions for the last 6 years from time to time."

"Hallucinations, Miss Banks, pure imagination."

"Oh yeah?" another woman asked, "Explain me."

"I beg your pardon?" Mr. Hale asked.

"You believe Humphrys' Universe and expect us to believe it too. In it he states that he doesn't believe any miraculous cures ever took place. When I was 16, someone shot me and the bullet just missed my heart, that's not luck, that's a miracle."

"Also," Amber chimed in, "if there's no such thing as a first human, where'd all of us come from? We didn't just drop out of the sky."

"That will be explained in science when we discuss evolution."

"Evolution has more holes in it than Swiss cheese," Amber said, "we didn't come from a 3-foot tall chimpanzee. God created us; He created the universe, the planets, and the humans. He brought you into this world, He'll take you out when He's ready."

"Do you have any proof that God even exists?"

"Yes, I'm living proof, after all the stuff I've done in life, I should be dead and decayed in a pine box by now, but I'm still here. That's not luck and that's not coincidence. He **_must _**be good if He's letting me still be here. It's because of Him that I'm even standing here having this argument with you," Amber said, "And until you can prove that none of it is real, don't tell me what's true and what's imagination. You refuse to admit that you're wrong."

"There's just one problem with that Miss Jenzon, you won't admit that you could be wrong, either," Mr. Hale said.

"That's because I'm not, and if you don't believe me, then remember what I'm telling you, when you die," Amber said.

"And what is that?" Mr. Hale asked.

"Science can't prove where we started, Humphrys can't prove where we started. God on the other hand is where we started and why we were even created to begin with. This didn't happen by accident, the universe wasn't just here. It HAD to be created. Plants come from seeds, firewood comes from trees, birds come from eggs, the water in the ocean and river came from the sky, babies started from a sperm and an egg. Everything started somewhere, and Someone had to be there to get it started. So, if you're still certain that this malarkey is true, then you can do it without me!" Amber said as she walked towards the door.

"Me too," Richie said as he followed her.

A few other students followed them out, and the first thing Richie and Amber saw when they left the room was Duncan and the dean.

"Well, what have we here? The next two valedictorians?" Duncan asked.

"Very funny, Mac, I don't care what you say, you can scream, you can spit, you can throw us again the wall, but I'm not going back there," Richie told him.

"Good," Duncan said.

"And another thing!" Amber said, "What?!"

"The dean had a few complaints about you two, but now that I've seen this course and this 'professor' with my own eyes, I don't see anything to worry about as far as your well being is concerned," Duncan said.

"What are you saying?" Richie asked.

"I'm saying the exact same thing I said to him," Duncan pointed to the dean, "I'm proud of both of you regardless of what you do."

"Yeah, just cuz you know that we wouldn't buy this philosophy crap," Amber said.

"No Amber, I was proud of you two before I even knew about this."

"Well that's new to me," Amber said, "I thought you hated me."

"Who does he hate?" Methos asked as he entered the hallway.

"No one, what're you doing here?" Duncan asked.

"The fire alarm went off in my class and all the students ran out happy as a clam, now I don't know where they went," Methos said, "what's going on here?"

"Nothing, we're heading to World Geography now, later Mac," Richie called as they ran off.

"What was that about?" Methos asked Duncan.

"What's this about?" Cassandra asked Amanda, "I didn't do anything, I haven't even gone near him."

"I just want to make sure that we have an understanding here, if you even try to do anything to Methos, I'll kill you," Amanda said.

"Give me a break, I'm a little older than you, I think I could take you," Cassandra said.

"And Methos is over 4,600 years older than Duncan, but Methos didn't kill him," Amanda said.

"Because he is a coward," Cassandra said.

"The night they met, he offered his head to Duncan and he didn't take it, what's that tell you?" Amanda asked.

"That Duncan is foolish and naïve," Cassandra said.

"I didn't marry a naïve man," Amanda said, "Duncan knows better than to just flat out kill someone who is not what they were 2,000 years ago."

"Maybe not to him, Duncan wasn't his slave, Duncan wasn't assaulted by Kronos while Methos just stood by and watched."

"And you think Methos wasn't used as one of Kronos' 'objects' himself? Methos might have been older than Kronos but you're forgetting something. Methos doesn't like to fight, which is why he joined with Kronos, to stay alive. He didn't want to die, but he knew it was useless to fight Kronos either. Then one day he got out of it, and went on his way the way he is today, an intelligent, compassionate, pacifistic for the most of it, sincere man," Amanda said.

"Compassionate, sincere, bah!" Cassandra replied, "The day that thing does anything sincere..."

"He already has," Amanda said, "he offered Duncan his head so he would be powerful enough to destroy Kalas, he took Kristen's head so she wouldn't kill Duncan or Richie, he helped Joe save his daughter, a Watcher from her own assignment. What does that tell you?"

"Nothing."

Amanda got up from the couch to get her sword, before she grabbed it, Cassandra said, "It doesn't change anything for me about him, but obviously he's shown a different side of himself to everyone else here."

"Yes, the real Methos."

"It doesn't change the way I feel about him, I still wish someone would take his head, but obviously it's not going to be me. So for the rest of the week I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and be the nicest rival he ever had," Cassandra said.

"You better."

The front door swung open and the four Immortals came rushing in.

"What's going on?" Amanda asked.

"Say hello to two of the smartest kids in the entire college," Duncan said, "they know more than their instructor."

"You don't say," Amanda laughed, "so I guess this makes you the top-students."

"No, it makes us transferring to a new course," Richie said.

"What?" Amanda asked.

"They told off their philosophy teacher and the dean told them they had to take another course if they plan to pass this semester," Methos explained.

"I don't believe it," Amanda said.

"Here's what you'll probably believe, they're in one of my classes," Methos said.

"I believe it," Cassandra groaned.

Amanda turned her head and looked at Cassandra, Cassandra raised one end of her mouth into a smile.

"What is it?" Amanda asked.

"History," Richie said.

"I should've guessed," Amanda said.

"Well, I think I'll be heading out now," Methos said.

"Why? You just got back," Amanda said.

"Yes I'm aware of that, but someone else is here," Methos said.

"Don't bother," Cassandra said, "I'm not in the mood to fight you."

"MacLeod, I'm worried," Methos said, "it looks like Immortals **do** get sick."

"I'm going to go back to my room and lay down for a while," Cassandra said.

"Anything you need?" Duncan asked.

"Just a large bottle of scotch," Cassandra said.

"What century?" Amber asked.

"Amanda, what just happened here?" Methos asked.

"The start of a new beginning. You won't have to worry about Cassandra coming after you anymore."

"Can you guarantee that?"

"Yes. Now what do you have to say?"

Methos picked up two glass ashtrays and smashed them on the coffee table, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, the prophecy has prevailed," he laughed as he headed into the kitchen.

"Well what's gotten into him?" Duncan asked.

"Nothing, he's just happy to be alive and know that his worst enemy who is alive can't get to him now," Amanda said.

"What'd you tell Cassandra?" Richie asked.

"That if she tried anything with Methos, I'd kill her," Amanda said.

"Now I know why women are the stronger sex," Richie said.

"Why?"

"Because they control everyone, they control men, they control the other women," Richie said.

"Yeah well I'd love to stay here and listening to this flattery of the other sex, but I got a report due in Japanese," Amber said.

"And I got work in Government that I gotta get done by Monday," Richie said.

They headed upstairs and Cassandra headed over to her room, leaving Duncan and Amanda alone in the living room.

"Well this is interesting," Duncan said.

"Yeah, the first time we're actually by ourselves in the daytime...who would of thought that two kids in college, and two old rivals coming together would change our lives so much?" Amanda laughed.

"Well they're not here right now," Duncan said, "so..."

Duncan leaned into Amanda to kiss her, he firmly kissed her red lips, then moved down towards her neck...at the moment, Methos came out of the kitchen and broke it up, "Knock it off, will you? The kids will see you."

Amanda and Duncan stood side by side and nervously laughed as Methos headed back into the kitchen.

"He sure can be a pain in the ass," Amanda said.

"Yes he can, and I'm glad we'll be having him around for a few more centuries."


End file.
